Grotrian Cymbalese

Richard Brekne richardb@c2i.net
Fri, 05 Nov 1999 09:14:59 +0100


Hi list..

Ran into a Grotrian grand 7 footer about 20 years old yesterday. A bear
to tune. Strings just would not render. A couple curious things on this
thing. In the higher treble area I notice this strange duplexish sound
on hard blows. Happens on all the higher notes. You play hard and you
get this delayed cymbal kind of resound. Sounds sorta like those cymbals
that have loose rivets insertet around the rim area. The sound starts
about a second after playing the note, rises in intensity a bit and then
slowly fades away. Very strange affect. I wonder if anyone has an
explanation for this. There is no felt muting of any duplex section
anywhere on the instrument.

On a second subject, something I have wondered about for some time....
This Grotrian has what seems like a double front duplex in the tenor and
treble. I have seen this on many older Grotrians. Two brass u bars after
the aggraffes and the capo. One about an inch after string termination,
then another about 3 inches further towards the strings. I am wondering
if this could be the source of the rendering problem, and if there is
any reason to think that replacing this second with a felt rest would
improve the situation. Eventually what should be expected in terms of
changing the sound characteristics when doing this. Seems unlikely that
much sound contribution from this second area is present, but then the
recent discussion on the so called rear duplex area has started me
re-thinking these "quiet duplex" segments.

Richard Brekne
I.C.P.T.G. N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway




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